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Vera Wang and Kohl's: Masterful Marketing or Brand Suicide?

Vera Wang has far more to gain and little to lose in the 'cheap chic' branding venture, marketing expert Pam Danziger says

Stevens, PA August 9, 2007 -- The new 'cheap chic' fashion line from Vera Wang, called "Simply Vera" is slated to hit Kohl's 800-some stores and website next month. This is a major effort for Kohl's, supported by an 8-page print ad in leading fashion publications, a Times Square billboard in association with New York's fashion week and thirty-second television spots.

This is a turning point for the Vera Wang brand. Pundits are lining up with doom-and-gloom predictions about Vera Wang's descent to the masses and its subsequent loss of luxury allure. "Get over it," says Pam Danziger, president of Unity Marketing, a research firm specializing in the luxury market, and author of Let Them Eat Cake: Marketing Luxury to the Masses, as well as the Classes.

"Shoppers are savvy. They won't confuse the more affordable $100 items in the 'Simply Vera' line at Kohl's with the upscale ready-to-wear line at Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue and other luxury retailers. However, the mistake is to assume that only the middle and lower-income shopper is drawn to Kohl's. Quite the contrary, many high-income luxury shoppers also frequent discounters and the mass marketers looking for bargains," Danziger explains.

In Unity Marketing's latest survey of luxury consumers, over one-fourth (26 percent) of luxury shoppers shopped in Kohl's in 2006, which is more than shopped at Nordstrom (23 percent), the top ranked luxury retailer. (see Unity Marketing's Luxury Report 2007, http://www.unitymarketingonline.com/cms_luxury/luxury/Luxury_Report_2007.php )

Vera Wang's branding strategy for the future �
Target the Young Affluents, the Want-It-All Generation

"The Vera Wang partnership with Kohl's aims squarely at the most promising opportunity in the luxury market today � capturing the loyalty of the young affluent market � which will become the core of the luxury market in the near future as the Baby-Boom generation starts to retire," Danziger says.

Taking a luxury brand and spreading it across a wider spectrum of price points is a key branding strategy to target the young affluents. A new Unity Marketing study Generations of Luxury, which examines the 40 year old and under luxury consumers, found that the younger affluents, despite their high incomes, are far more frugal in their day-to-day purchasing than the more indulgent older affluents.

Danziger explains, "They are called the 'Want-It-All Generation because they have a ravenous appetite for the good life and spend freely for luxury goods and services, spending nearly one-third more on luxuries than the over 40 year old luxury consumer in 2006. At the same time, their luxury shopping list is far longer than the Baby Boomers'. Their high incomes have to stretch further, so the young affluents, in particular, are drawn to mass merchants and discount venues where they can search out the best-for-less."

"The luxury market will become more competitive in the years ahead as today's Baby Boom generation passes into their senior years. Luxury brands that don�t make the transition to the young affluents will be left out in the cold," Danziger predicts.

"The Vera Wang partnership with Kohl's is perfectly positioned to build loyalty among young affluents for the Vera Wang brand that will translate into more future sales of the upscale Vera Wang ready-to-wear line. Targeting the young affluent market is the big opportunity -- and challenge -- for luxury marketers worldwide," Danziger concludes.

New study reveals what the under 40 year old luxury consumers want -- and what it means to luxury marketers

Unity Marketing latest study of the luxury market examines the 40 and under and the over 40 year old luxury consumers. The report, Generations of Luxury, examines what the young luxury consumers want and how their tastes and perspectives differ from the over 40 year olds.

Use this link http://www.unitymarketingonline.com/cms_luxury/luxury/insights_study.php to learn more about the Generations of Luxury report and to order your copy today. The findings from this research study can also be presented to clients in the form of a web-cast, as well as an in-office customized executive presentation. More information is available on the website above or by calling Unity Marketing, 717-336-1600.

Special Discount Available

Unity Marketing has a special discount offer available. With your subscription to the Generations of Luxury Report, you can also get Unity Marketing�s Luxury Report 2007 for half-off the publication price. Get both reports for $5,000. See http://www.unitymarketingonline.com/cms_luxury/luxury/luxury1.php for more about the Luxury Report 2007.
For media: Charts, tables and graphs are available on request.

About Pam Danziger and Unity Marketing
Pamela N. Danziger is a nationally recognized expert specializing in consumer insights, especially for marketers and retailers that sell luxury goods and experiences to the masses or the �classes.� She is president of Unity Marketing, a marketing consulting firm she founded in 1992.

Advising such clients as PPR, Diageo, Stearns & Foster, Waterford/Wedgwood, Lenox, Prudential Fine Homes, Ritz Carlton, Orient-Express Hotels, The World Gold Council, The Conference Board and American Express, Danziger taps consumer psychology to help clients navigate and master the changing luxury consumer marketplace.

Her latest book is Shopping: Why We Love It and How Retailers Can Create the Ultimate Customer Experience, published by Kaplan Publishing in October 2006. Her other books include Let Them Eat Cake: Marketing Luxury to the Masses�as well as the Classes, (Dearborn Trade Publishing, $27, hardcover) and Why People Buy Things They Don't Need: Understanding and Predicting Consumer Behavior (Chicago: Dearborn Trade Publishing, 2004).

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